{"id":3599,"date":"2011-08-22T00:48:17","date_gmt":"2011-08-22T07:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=3599"},"modified":"2011-08-22T00:48:17","modified_gmt":"2011-08-22T07:48:17","slug":"def-leppard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/def-leppard\/","title":{"rendered":"DEF LEPPARD"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

DEF LEPPARD<\/h1>\n

Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell are hard rock\u2019s double-barrel dream team<\/strong><\/h2>\n

By Russell Hall<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chemistry is a delicate thing among the members\u00a0of any band\u2014but in a hard-rock outfit with a trademark two-guitar attack like Def Leppard, there is another, secondary chemistry that must also be just right. Guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell have for nearly two decades forged a perfect balance between the former\u2019s more technically minded, classical-tinged approach and the latter\u2019s bluesier wail. \u201cKeith Richards calls it \u2018weaving a musical tapestry,\u2019\u201d Collen points out, nodding toward rock\u2019s prototypical two-guitar powerhouse, the Rolling Stones. \u201cWe\u2019re very different as players,\u201d adds Campbell. \u201cThat\u2019s one reason we\u00a0work so well together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campbell replaced founding guitarist Steve Clark, who\u00a0passed away in 1991 after a painful battle with alcohol abuse. The fact that Collen proved able to find another kindred six-string spirit is only one of the minor miracles that have kept the British powerhouse pushing forward for more than three decades. They have done so despite roiling changes in the music business, fans\u2019 changing tastes and their own personal challenges\u2014before Clark\u2019s death, the group had already coped with the loss of drummer Rick Allen\u2019s left arm in a 1984 auto accident. Def Leppard has nonetheless survived and thrived, riding out the storms to remain a seat-filling arena attraction. \u201cWe take our work seriously,\u201d says Campbell, 48, \u201cbut not ourselves. We show up on time, we show up sober and we do our job. There\u2019s a real commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest from Collen, Campbell, Allen, singer Joe Elliott and bass player Rick Savage is Mirror Ball: Live & More<\/em>, a long overdue record of the band\u2019s onstage prowess and a timely summation of Leppard\u2019s journey to date. Culled from shows recorded on their 2008-2009 tour, the two-CD, one-DVD set (available exclusively through Walmart) also features three new studio tracks that prove the band has lost none of its luster. \u201cI think there\u2019s still plenty more to come,\u201d says Collen, 53. \u201cThe passion is still there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why make a live album now? <\/strong><\/p>\n

CAMPBELL: Making live albums in the past was very laborious and expensive. You had to get a mobile truck and do the entire recording over one or two shows. That creates something we didn\u2019t want: performance anxiety. Technology in recent years has become very portable and affordable. We started recording and archiving every show we did during the 2008 and 2009 tour\u2014over 100 shows. After a week of that, you forget you\u2019re recording. You\u2019re in a much more natural state, and that allows you to focus on the show as it\u2019s happening in real time. It allowed us not to be concerned with what we call \u201cred light fever.\u201d<\/p>\n

How do you two click so well? <\/strong><\/p>\n

CAMPBELL: We\u2019re very secure emotionally. A lot of guitar players tend to be competitive. Phil and I have never experienced that. We capitulate to the greater good of the song and the greater good of the band. Plus we play very differently. Phil\u2019s hands are a lot faster than mine, especially his right hand. He accents all the notes with his right hand, something I\u2019ve never been able to do. I play a much more legato style, and let my left hand do a lot more work than my right.<\/p>\n

When did you first learn to play?<\/strong><\/p>\n

COLLEN: A friend at school showed me one chord. After that I learned by listening\u2014everything from Deep Purple to Led Zeppelin to Santana to Mick Ronson, on those Bowie albums. I also listened to lots of American guitarists: Rick Derringer, Ronnie Montrose and Johnny Winter. I preferred the American style. The Americans had a flair that some of the British players didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

CAMPBELL: I didn\u2019t know many people who played guitar, but whenever I ran into someone who did, I\u2019d ask them to show me a chord or a lick. I had a crush on a girl when I was 13. Her mother played guitar, and she showed me the lick for \u201cDay Tripper.\u201d That was the first riff I learned. Mostly I learned by sitting down with records and working songs out. That started with Rory Gallagher\u2019s Live! in Europe<\/em> and Thin Lizzy\u2019s Jailbreak<\/em>.<\/p>\n

How did you find Vivian?<\/strong><\/p>\n

COLLEN: We didn\u2019t want to replace<\/em> Steve. We couldn\u2019t do that. If you have a family member who dies, you don\u2019t replace them. If we were going to bring someone else in, he needed to have different attributes and bring something different to the table. Vivian did that. He\u2019s such a lovely guy. He was sensitive and a great player. Plus he brought vocal talent.<\/p>\n

CAMPBELL: It was harder for them than for me. It wasn\u2019t the first time I had stepped into another band, whereas they had never gone onstage without Steve. I think that was frightening for them. As a result, we rehearsed for about two months before my first gig with the band. I think that was more for Def Leppard\u2019s benefit than for mine. They knew I could play. A lot of the vetting process was about the personalities, and whether their personalities would work with mine.<\/p>\n

Are great riffs a dying art?<\/strong><\/p>\n

COLLEN: Yes. The motivation for being in a band changed at some point. People want to be rich or famous, or they just want attention, whereas players in the past were more about sharing their gifts. Riffs are less important to players than they once were because the stuff that goes on around the riffs isn\u2019t as important. Some of the grunge bands had great riffs, but nothing much has come since then.<\/p>\n

CAMPBELL: That was one of the great things about Steve Clark. He was a great riff writer. I pale in comparison. That\u2019s a target I\u2019ve set for myself for the next Def Leppard studio album. I want to focus on writing riffs rather than on trying to write complete songs. Sure, a lot of the great riffs have already been written, but I\u2019m certain there are a few more out there.<\/p>\n

Did all that \u201980s shredding hurt?<\/strong><\/p>\n

COLLEN: That was what killed off great riffs, to a large extent. It was ridiculous. Obviously those guys didn\u2019t have girlfriends. They just sat around and played this stuff no one else cared about, in a real male-dominated arena. I love shredding but it became absurd. There\u2019s a time and a place for that. But if that\u2019s all you do, then you\u2019re missing out on an integral part of music as an art form.<\/p>\n

What are your main guitars?<\/strong><\/p>\n

CAMPBELL: I have several Les Paul reissues, but my main squeeze is a bastardized guitar, a hybrid. It started life as a \u201978 Les Paul Custom that I bought in a pawnshop in Nashville in 1993. I especially like its neck, which is very chunky and has a great worn feel. That guitar got run over and the whole body was destroyed, but I was able to salvage the headstock, the neck and the front pickup. I had it re-bodied with a smaller Les Paul Standard-sized body, so it wasn\u2019t as big and heavy. And every other aspect of the guitar has been changed out, from the machine heads to the nuts to the frets.<\/p>\n

COLLEN: I usually take about seven guitars on the road. For the current tour I\u2019ve got two new Jackson Supremes, and a variety of my Jackson Signature PC1s. The PC1 has gotten better and better through the years. It\u2019s got a Sustainer, which acts as a pickup as well, in the neck position. You can get screaming feedback no matter where you are in the room. It has a bolt-on mahogany neck with a maple fingerboard. The new model\u2014the PC Supreme\u2014is a neck-through, with a completely different look. It\u2019s an arch-top with an ebony fingerboard, but with the same electronics as the PC1.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the secret to your longevity?<\/strong><\/p>\n

CAMPBELL: No one in Def Leppard considers himself a rock star. I think that\u2019s more of a British phenomenon as opposed to an American way of thinking. If you look at, say, M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce, who\u2019s very much an American band, they\u2019re as much image-driven as they are music-driven. They\u2019ve written great music, but they are also personalities with rock-star personas. Leppard has never been like that. There\u2019s never been an individual in the band who\u2019s been fodder for the tabloids. The focus has always been on the music. That\u2019s kept us together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DEF LEPPARD Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell are hard rock\u2019s double-barrel dream team By Russell Hall Chemistry is a delicate thing among the members\u00a0of any band\u2014but in a hard-rock outfit with a trademark two-guitar attack like Def Leppard, there is another, secondary chemistry that must also be just right. Guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[2183,1636,2296,970],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3599"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3599"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3601,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3599\/revisions\/3601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}